Turning Over Turnover

Abstract

Human service programs often have major problems ensuring that all direct-care staff positions are filled and keeping staff members after they are hired. Work schedules may have an effect on maintaining the longevity of staff. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a revised direct-care staff-scheduling system in community homes serving adults with developmental disabilities. The revised direct-care staffing system, which used shift-style schedules, was compared on a variety of measures to existing staffing systems and to a staffing model using married couples and adaptations of the Teaching-Family Model (called Family-Teaching homes). The revised staff-scheduling system was evaluated before and after its implementation and then compared to the Family-Teaching homes using direct-care employee measures of: (1) turnover; (2) position vacancies; (3) number of different employees paid within a pay period; (4) average hourly wages; (5) number of hours worked; (6) average cost for employees per person served; and (7) employee satisfaction. The various staffing approaches were also compared on measures of parent/legal guardian satisfaction and overall program quality. The revised staff-scheduling system was superior when compared to the previous staff-scheduling system on measures of turnover (43% less), vacancies (57% fewer), number of direct-care employees involved in the care of the persons served (13% fewer), and hourly wages (8% more). All of this was achieved without affecting staff-to-client ratios. While these changes were positive, the Family-Teaching homes were associated with significantly better direct-care staff stability and lower costs.     

Trust and Sexual Interaction: The Significance of the Internet on the Sex life and Sexual Risk Behaviors Of Gay and Bisexual Men in Spain

ABSTRACT

This study provides an understanding of the significance of the use of the Internet to find sexual partners, its impact on sexual life, and how it is linked to unprotected sex among gay and bisexual men. A grounded approach was used to analyze interviews with 31 men (aged 19 to 46 years) from Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao/San Sebastián, Spain. The results reveal that the Internet is impacting the form and style of life of many men, and particularly their experience of sexuality. Many men regard their sexual experiences with casual partners met through the Internet as unsatisfactory or frustrating. The men provided several reasons behind the search for sexual partners via the Internet: Some interviewees sought to channel needs other than the sexual (company, affection, stable partner). Trust and assumptions built into the virtual interaction become a key to understanding why some men have unprotected sex with partners met on the Internet.     

Predictors of HIV Sexual Risk Behavior Among Men Who Have Sex with Men,Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women,and Transgender Women

ABSTRACT

Men who have sex with men, men who have sex with men and women, and transgender women are at high risk for HIV infection. This study seeks to clarify which known HIV risk factors (partner type, sex location, serodiscordance, multiple sex partners, substance use during sex) contribute to engagement in high-risk (unprotected receptive anal) sex in each population. Data collected from June 2005 through June 2008 indicate all three populations display different HIV sexual risk profiles. The data suggest that HIV-prevention interventions should be individually tailored to address the specific needs of these three highly vulnerable and impacted populations.     

Social Activity,School-related Activity,and Anti–substance Use: Media Messages on Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use

In this article, we present the effects of three hypothesized protective factors—social activities, school-related activities, and anti–substance use media messages—on adolescent tobacco and alcohol use. Data were drawn from the “Monitoring the Future” research project, which was conducted by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The sample included 2,551 twelfth-grade students. The results of the structural equation model showed that exposure to media anti-drug messages had an indirect negative effect on tobacco and alcohol use through school-related activity and social activity. The results suggest that comprehensive ecological interventions encompassing media, family, and school can increase the preventive effects of adolescent's substance use.     

Why Wait ‘til Marriage? The Determinants of Premarital Sex among Adolescents in a Country in Sub-Saharan Africa: Botswana

The purpose of the study was to describe the premarital sexual behaviors of Botswana adolescents and examine the factors associated with premarital sex intentions. An anonymous self-reported questionnaire was administered to 1,054 pupils ages 10 to 18 years in school and out of school. The findings indicate that the theory of planned behavior provides a model for developing interventions to reduce the risk behavior in regard to HIV/AIDS through premarital sex. The findings in the study indicate factors that influence adolescent intentions to engage in premarital sexual intercourse and the need to address these when designing effective interventions.     

Making Human Behavior Theory Real Through the Unreal: Fiction in the HBSE Classroom

This article examines the use of fictional literature as a method for helping students apply human behavior theory in competent practice. When students and educators read a poem, short essay, or novel, it allows them the opportunity to join together as an audience as they tease out teachable lessons from the story. The authors posit that when used in human behavior and the social environment courses, fictional literature allows educators and students to experience abstract content as more concrete. Following a brief literature review, we examine one novel through the lens of three different human behavior theories.     

The role of time perspective in predicting Iranian farmers’ participatory-based water conservation attitude and behavior

ABSTRACT

In current perspective, farmers’ participatory behavior toward conservation of water resources (FPBCWR) is one of the most important strategies under water resource management in rural Iran. In this regard, understanding the predictors of farmers’ participatory-based water conservation behaviors and attitudes is gaining more importance than earlier. Among different dimensions of farmers’ participatory behavior, the potential of temporal frames was examined rarely. Thus, 322 Iranian farmers were investigated to examine the potential of their time perspectives in predicting their participatory-based water conservation behavior and attitude. According to the study results, the effects of present orientation on attitude and behavior were negatively significant, while the effects of future orientation on attitude and behavior were positively significant, whereas its effects (path coefficients) were stronger than present orientation effects. Past orientation did not have a significant effect on attitude, though attitude positively and significantly affected farmers’ participatory behavior. The results of causal analysis revealed that presented model accounted for 58% of variance in farmers’ ‘behavior’ and 42% of variance in “attitude.” In conclusion, a few demonstrable illustrations of policy implications are presented to enable utilizing the important findings and concluding results of this study that is linked further with water resource management domain.     

The Social Ecology of Child Development in the Mexican American Population

Abstract

This article explores the influence of contextual factors on the developmental outcomes of Mexican American children. The contextual structure of child development is conceptualized as a complex system of environments, including the socio-demographic, social service, academic, and parental home environments. Based on an extensive review of the current theoretical and empirical literature, we find that the disadvantaged social position of Mexican American children has detrimental implications for all other aspects of their environment, thus hindering their development. In addition, although Mexican American parents are highly competent in providing a nurturing and culturally-rich environment, there is a often a discontinuity between the home environment and both the academic and the social service environments.     

Planning for the 1950 Censuses of Population and Agriculture

The change from the z of “Student's” 1908 paper to the t of present day statistical theory and practice is traced and documented. It is shown that the change was brought about by the extension of “Student's” approach, by R.A. Fisher, to a broader class of problems, in response to a direct appeal from “Student” for a solution to one of these problems.     

Parameter estimation in nonlinear regression models 1

Fisher information contained in record values, inter-record times and their concomitants from a sample of fixed size is derived in general and explicit expressions are deduced for some specific known bivariate classes of distributions. A comparison between fixed sampling and inverse sampling schemes with equal number of records and concomitants is also carried out. We also consider parameter estimation based on bivariate records and a small simulation study is done.